400W CFL, 8 Plant Grow

So.

Had this grow box going for about 3 weeks now.

Growing 2 Auto Pounder and 6x Northern Lights Blue.

Working with a very small space approx 5 long x3ft x 3ft

250 Watt main CFL bulb with about 200Watts of side lighting slowly being added as it bushes out.

I have 10x 2ft long CFL strips. Sorta like T5s. - I will put 2 of these on top, 4 in each corner, 4 on each middle side wall.

Using BioBizz organic feed.

PH is kept at 6 (This is what my water and nutes seem to work out at and keep the soil a steady 6 - 6.5)

Growing in first and final pot.

Pot size range from 1.5 Gallon - 3 Gallon... only 1 pot is 1.5Gal, all others are 2-3

Growing in straight forward multi purpose.

I want to be able to pull off 1 oz each plant but with my space, seems a bit of a concern.



The 2 auto pounders are the biggest ones - about 1.5 weeks older than the NL blue babies.

One of my plants suffered heavy nute burn (Spilt on leaves) but is recovering great and is the biggest plant.... turned into bit of a mutant now.

You see the 2 in 1 pot? yeh - that actually happened. One seed, 2 plants.

I checked and did order 5 NL Blue seeds, I am guessing the seed split ? can it work like twins in humans? lol...

Going to see how they do, if one suffers, i will remove it.

I do not know if I should LST, Sog or Scrog to make the best use of space

I was thinking LST, bending them over the short distance of the box in a zig zag formation, make a big bush with one even canopy.

Pics are a week old so will update later.

Any advice or ideas?

So you have to autos that you plan to grow with regular seeds?
Could you post pics of your setup so I can better picture it?

If you only have one area to grow and can't segregate you're flowering plants from your vegging, and you're trying to get ~ 1oz each plant, I would recommend either the scrog or the lst. I have a plant that was 7 weeks in veg, and was only about 4-6 inches tall above the pot. In my opinion the sog would be best for a perpetual grow so you can maximize your yields.

you can train them to grow around the pot its the easiest way. i did a perpetual grow its fun steady weed just keep in mind that all plants are different even if they are the same strain so use very little nutes see how it reacts if it thrives then do a little mor each wattering

DrJohnStivers - thanks for the input, I should have said.. I am growing on a 24/0 period, Auto Pounder & Auto Northern Lights Blue. Wont be uploading pics till tomorrow, sorry. Growing at a second property.

For an idea, my box is an ottoman - I have attached the bulb by drilling 2 pieces of wood to the opening lid. the fitting that the bulb screws into has 2 holes... I have drilled screws through 2 holes and into the wood attached to the lid so the fitting is permanently attached. I then screwed the bulb into the fitting and threaded a metal wire through the bulb piece, not the glass but the bit below and attached this to the lid for extra support.... proper ghetto but works perfect and would not have picked another way(I will show you for lol's tomorrow).

Lowrider2000 - thx, I think I will grow around the pot... I just realized it would probably make the best use of space and a good canopy... but first, would it not make the plant twist rather than bend? dont know if that would cause any problems?

Will upload pics tomorrow or possibly tonight.

hope I can hit that 1oz mark.

Thx

Hey Ben,

Okay cool, the reason I mentioned the light cycles is that autoflower strains benefit most when exposed to as much light as possible throughout its life, so you would want to keep it in the vegging area if you have one. But if youre flowering everything at once, it wouldnt grow to its fullest potential under a 12/12 light cycle.

As for the box man, I wouldnt sweat it. I have a pretty ghetto looking flowering box, but it will only be like that until i have the funds to create exactly what I want. If it grows weed, it grows weed.

And lastly as far as the twisting, if you take a look at The grow i have linked, you can see some photos of the biggest plant that I have been training around its pot. It has some twisting going on that worried me when i first started noticing it, but it hasnt posed any problems thus far. I will keep you informed if anything funny starts happening because of it.

Here is something that i read that helped me a good amount:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=115377

Hope this helps man!

Quick Update.

This is the way I fixed the bulb fitting onto the lid.

I also have something for the bulb so it doesn't break the fitting but you cnt really see.

This is the biggest Auto Pounder of the 2... also the only one to suffer nute burn (most of the burn was from contact to leaves).

Compared to one without...



Decided to start LST on the tall one. Seemed a good size and stem nice and soft.... Plan is to let the new node grow a bit and then start bending around the pot.


Altogether...



The lids up right now, but you can see the right side of the box is getting most of the light...

The one in the top right was planted same time as all of the bottom row.

As you can tell, I have not been rotating... also gonna start adding some t5s to the corners of box.


Putting together another box to house 4 more in the same room. got some clearing out to do then good to go.



the 2 Auto Pounders are now about 3 weeks old. one of them seems to be a slow grower.

The other 5 Auto Northern Lights are about 1.5weeks.

Any input, please feel free.

Any thoughts on how I have started LST?

thought I would start with a 90degree angle straight off.

Put another layer of soil on the top so didnt risk pulling roots out. (Didnt fancy using a U shape nail or something as counter tie)

Good? Bad? What you think?

Just a quick update.

Plants are taking off pretty rapidly all of a sudden.

To the eye they look 50% bigger!

the 1-2 week younger plants*(Auto NL Blue) are nearly the size of the older ones (Auto Pounder)

A smell already starting.

The LST'd one has already grown 2 nodes further and is reaching back to the light... tying down tonight and following around the pot.

You can see the top right one, 2 weeks younger than the 2 on its left....

The middle one that I lst'd... still looks like a mutant more than ever!



Thx for viewing

Just a quick update.

Plants seem to be ok, nothing much to report... my mutant plant seems to have started flowering lol.. seems about 1 week ahead of all others atleast.

One seems to be suffering a little but not to sure why.

You will see, top left on pic is the one who seems to have bit of a deficiency, cant seem to find problem - should I start feeding?

Been holding off due to nute burn on the weird mutant looking one.


Pics of the sick one - Auto Pounder. (Top left corner).. Sorry for slightly bad lighting




Seemed to have bad luck with my auto pounders.

Lost 1, 2 didnt germ, 1 started growing and stem detached from roots in week 1... 2 left.... the biggest one suffered nute burn when no others did.. now the other one having a problem...

GRR

Any ideas?

Not much interest but here we go.

Quick update:



Really gaining size. sadly the top left and bottom left are not getting as much light as the others.... I plan to LST them to the direction of the bulb more and also drop side lighting in.

Pic after more LST :



Looks bit of a mess but will serve its purpose.

Mainly using coat hanger tops to pin the plant down into soil.

I plan to add 3x 50w CFL Spirals in there by this time next week. Turns out total grow will be 400W not 500.

Really do hope I fill the whole of this space out with 1 big bush.

Guess my crappy compost isn't doing too bad after all. has given one maybe 2 plants a bit of nute burn.. but the others of loving it!

I know its quite high in fertilizer etc but seems to be right for the NLB Autos... just not the auto pounders.... Really not impressed with Auto Pounders...

The 2 plants sharing the one 2.5 Gallon pot are being moved tomorrow into a 5 Gallon Smart pot..

Not really sure how it will fit but as its flexible fabric, shouldnt be a problem to mold it into place where I need it..

Either 1 5 gallon smart pot or 2 1.5 Gallon pots.... gotta be the 5 gallon I think?

Now would be a great time for any input/feedback...

Well you got some problems going on here. Roots need oxygen too and by the looks of it your soil is lacking aeration-big time. Next time try also picking up a bag of perlite and cut your soil with at least 30% perlite. Or get a potting soil that already has it mixed in. Next off, alot of people start feeding seedlings this or that too soon. Its a baby and it has to develop naturally before it can handle what the synthetic nutes do to it. If anything start off very mellow. Try 1/8-1/4 max of the suggested dosage and work from there. Just remember LESS IS MORE. Hopefully things work out for you. Good luck!

NaturalWorksOrganics said:

Well you got some problems going on here. Roots need oxygen too and by the looks of it your soil is lacking aeration-big time. Next time try also picking up a bag of perlite and cut your soil with at least 30% perlite. Or get a potting soil that already has it mixed in. Next off, alot of people start feeding seedlings this or that too soon. Its a baby and it has to develop naturally before it can handle what the synthetic nutes do to it. If anything start off very mellow. Try 1/8-1/4 max of the suggested dosage and work from there. Just remember LESS IS MORE. Hopefully things work out for you. Good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks NWO.

Getting the grips of nutes etc - learnt what I should and shouldn't do.

Now about the soil aeration... Its a little too late for me to turn back now, Autos, first and final pot about to start flowering - really dont have the option of a repot into a different mix.

The soil takes 2-3 days to dry after a water so drainage is not TOO bad!

Do you know of any way I can increase the aeration of my soil without transplanting ? - Anything at all?

Have seen a few things where people have used tubes or straws going into the soil ?

Thanks.

Have you noticed an increase in bugs with your fertilizer?
I dont understand your timing. On the 10th you had been going for 3 weeks? shouldn't an auto by now be flowering?

Haha sry, I started this box with different plants that i had already started, they have since been harvested... whole dif story lol... don't seem to be very accurate with times in my first post neway

When I started, the 2 auto pounders were coming into their second week. The middle, strange looking one is flowering now. The other was a slow starter I guess, idk.

I haven't noticed any bugs but haven't had a very close look. Just been letting them do their thing, water them, tie them and leave.

Will post some more close up pics tomorrow

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Ordered 3 50 Watt, 5500k Spiral bulbs to throw in today... Guess £9 total wasnt too bad!

I know, 2700k for flowering, 6400k for Veg.

I figured somewhere in the middle would just be good as extra lighting for any period the plant may be in.... 5500 would probably be good from start to finish, idk. looked for some with 5000k but couldnt find any.

Also have been using a crappy DIY reflector for my 250... Ordered a new reflector today.

Also gone ahead and got a cheap carbon filter + inline fan.

Preflowers have started, one of them is pretty much flowering, smell is starting to occur.

Few tubs of ONA to go and then I think I am done.

want to maximise yield in this box. I guess 2 months till harvest

Another update... (Between week 3/4) Know I keep saying this but really bushing out now!

Ignore the burnt leaves, one of the crappy auto pounders. tempted to chop and replace both of them tbh... haven't even bothered to make sure one of them is in the group pic... the sorry excuse is just poking into the picture...

The other one, the oldest and originally biggest plant in their, looks weedy and scrawny.



LSTd more of them yesterday... Will wait for them to perk up and post some more pics.

Friday is the day I install more lights, Carbon filter, extra fan, new reflector.

If it was me i would toss the two ugly ones. Those other four are looking great and look like they will need the extra space eventually. Looking good though man.

NaturalWorksOrganics said:

If it was me i would toss the two ugly ones. Those other four are looking great and look like they will need the extra space eventually. Looking good though man.

Click to expand...

Man... Depressing stuff

Their called Autopounders.... what the hell is going on with that lol? 1 Pound per square meter... yah right.

2/5 survived... wish they didnt.

Moving them both to the back where they will get least light and will allow the others to flourish.

Bought some 35% H202... gonna throw half a Tsp in a gallon of water once a week, should help with aerating the roots.

Not going to use the organic nutes I had planned as H202 will just kill it off apparently. Got some Tiger Bloom that I will start adding over the next week or so.

My idea thinking is that the compost has enough nutes in for atleast 4 weeks? by this time, plant is flowering and needs flowering nutes, not veg nutes.

The compost Im using says enough food for 6 weeks but I am unsure ?

Cant wait to get my inline+carbon filter attached... help increase air flow some
more... on the day of watering humidity peaks at 80-90%

More light will increase temps so I will actually be able to increase air flow some more.

Thnks

Update.. going to do something with the autopoundrs... their pathetic. Think I'm gonna take them out of big pots and punish them into smaller ones... gonna then repot the others into bigger pots.. make the best of wat I got lol

Gotta be something wrong with them 2 right?

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If it was me it would go something like this: autopounders-trashcan, trashcan-autopounders. Done. But thats just me.